In the younger industry More and more seiyuu are becoming idols, and more and more people are watching certain anime just because their favorite seiyuu is involved in the project. Seiyuu’s popularity is also increasing among the younger generations, with many even appearing on popularity charts based on the opinions of elementary school children. However, the industry doesn’t seem to be as friendly as it is made out to be.
Only a handful of people manage to survive in an industry as tough as voice acting. Hence the medium diamond online met with the director Takashi Otsukaof the feature films ofone piece‘ and various episodes of the ‘Pretty cure“, about the operation of this industry.
«To become a seiyuu, one must attend a language training school for at least two years, pass competitive exams, then go through probationary periods, and finally join an agency. While not limited to this, most industry members have gone through the exact same process.».
«Also, many seiyuus belong to the Japan Actors Union, an association separate from talent agencies. When directors and producers search for members for their voice actors, they use a “prestige list” based on opinions from the Japan Actors Union. Salaries for seiyuu are calculated as “Base Salary” multiplied by “Premium Issue Fee” (It totally depends on the airing block of the anime, the bigger the audience, the higher the pay), multiplied by “Format Rate” (the format of the project)».
«The “base salary” is updated every year depending on each seiyuu’s skill and career. A) Yes, Rookies earn a minimum “base salary” of just 15,000 yen (US$115) per episode for the first three years of their playing career. After that, they can move up to a “base salary” of 45,000 yen, and it takes a spectacular career to get off the list. This means that you don’t have a “base salary” but instead negotiate how much you want to earn yourself».
«The “Premium Emission Rate” corresponds to the block in which the project is broadcast or the duration on screen if it is an animated film. Starting with a 30 minute duration (x1.0), the rate increases proportionally to the duration of the broadcast block, namely x1.5 for a 60 minute block, x1.9 for a 90 minute block and x2.3 in a 120-minute block. However, newcomers do not have access to this tariff».
«Finally, the “format rate” is determined by the purpose of the project it’s being recorded for. It is fixed at 1.8x for TV series and 2.5x for film projects. So let’s do an exercise. Let’s say a voice actor of “Rank 15” (i.e. 15,000 yen) appears in a television series that is broadcast in a 30-minute block and has a total of 48 episodes (“Premium Emission Rate” x1.0) and (“Format Rate” x1.8), resulting in a grand total of 27,000 yen ($207) per episode».
«However, an acquaintance of mine explained to me that the seiyuu will not receive this money without losing a part. So you have to deduct the commissions for the agency that represents you and other things that 27,000 yen will be reduced to less than 20,000 yen per episode. In other words, There are times when the salary of a seiyuu who has recorded episodes for a year-long broadcast doesn’t even reach one million yen (just over $7,600)».
«This paltry amount of money is obviously unsatisfactory depending on the seiyuu. It doesn’t matter if your work becomes trending because you were excellent, your payment has already been made. According to research articles, the average annual income of a seiyuu is 1.44 million yen for people in their 20s and 2.04 million yen for people in their 30s. That’s because of The voice actor job is not a regular working job (8 hours a day, 5 days a week). Even though the seiyuu appears in every episode, He will have a low salary because he will work about 1 day a week for about 3 hours, which is what it takes to record an episode».
«In this sense, It can be said that the seiyuu’s pay is “justified” by the short time they actually work. However in the anime industry today The balance between demand (animation projects a seiyuu participates in) and supply (number of active seiyuus that meet certain requirements) is imbalancedwhich leads to overloading of artists with projects and inevitably leads to a further reduction in working hours and, of course, salary».
«The voice acting industry is the same as live action acting and it seems that many members are doing side jobs while having nothing to do such as performing at events, singing among others. Director Otsuka pointed out that low pay for voice actors is not the same as low pay for animators as they are generated for different reasons. The main reason why voice actors earn so little is the fact that more and more voice actors and actresses are working in the industry. But since anime projects are looking for the most talented and popular, the job openings ultimately benefit old talent, not new talent. The gap between veterans and novices widens, like a mountain that keeps getting higher and more impassable.».
Font: Yahoo! News Japan
Copyright © 2023 DIAMOND, Inc. ©Yahoo Japan
Leave a Comment